San Antonio Spurs guard Danny Green happy to be back for one more year

Spurs guard Danny Green was in Corpus Christi this week hosting his annual basketball skills clinic. He answers three questions about opting in, Kawhi Leonard and what it's like to play for Coach "Pop".
Wochit

Danny Green has always worked to give back to communities, whether it’s his hometown in New York, his college hometown in North Carolina and, now, his adopted home in South Texas.

It’s a major reason why Green, a guard for the San Antonio Spurs, holds basketball skills camps in Texas, along with his native New York and North Carolina, as his small way of growing the game and giving back.

“It means a lot … to be able to come back to these cities where a lot of people show love and support, and try to give back and help those kids to play some games and have some fun,” Green said Sunday during his annual basketball skills camp at Incarnate Word Academy. “Also to have some resources to learn the game of basketball for those who are taking it seriously and those who aren’t, just take the opportunity to interact and have fun.”

This year’s clinic in Corpus Christi, which is in its sixth year, had an estimated 65 participants. The two-day clinic came a few days after Green announced he was picking up his option to play another year for the Spurs.

Overshadowed by the ongoing drama with Kawhi Leonard, Green’s signing helps to keep a key component of the Spurs’ lineup in San Antonio. Green is one of the team’s top defensive players and also averaged 8.6 points and 3.6 rebounds in 70 games for San Antonio last season.

“It makes me feel a lot better now knowing we’ve got Rudy (Gay) back and (Marco) Belinelli is coming back,” Green said. “So we are still seeing what happens with other free agents that’s on our team. We’ll see what happens with Manu (Ginobili) and obviously with trade talks with everybody else.”

Buy Photo

Kevin Spann, a coach at the Danny Green basketball skills clinic, talks to campers prior to a drill on Sunday at Incarnate Word Academy.(Photo: Len Hayward/Caller-Times)

Green said he has not spoken to Leonard, adding that Leonard's situation is not a distraction because it is summer. He said he also has no "inside scoop" on what might happen.

“In the summer time, everybody is doing their own personal life,” Green said. “I’m having fun with the kids. Obviously everybody has questions likes we have the inside scoop — we don’t. But during the season, if this was going on like this, it could definitely be a distraction.”

Green has held or will hold camps this summer in Laredo, El Paso, San Antonio, McAllen, and said he will have one in Chapel Hill, N.C., where he played in college at North Carolina. As he entered the gym on Sunday afternoon, one player said, "It’s Danny Green. You’re so tall.”

Green high-fived campers and during a specific drill offered some defensive instruction to a player, all with a huge smile on his face.

“It means a lot,” Green said. “It means a lot to be able to come back where I grew up (in New York) and North Carolina where I became a man, and San Antonio where I became an adult and have been in most of my career. These are the places that I call home.”